The
1984 ending was somewhat predictable after Winston was released from the
Ministry of Love. He was released right after he betrayed Julia. After he was
released, Winston said he was better off than he was before. This led me to
believe that he may possible have become part of the inner party. Also, he said
he could get close to Julia now and it did not matter which again led me to
believe he was upgraded in society. He and Julia no longer have a feeling of
love for each other; everything is different when they meet up after they are
released. Winston no longer has a sex drive. O’Brien succeeded in taking away
part of Winston’s humanity from that point.
Also,
while Winston was in the Ministry of Love, he wanted to convert to the “other
side” because he was suffering. He wanted to believe that 2+2=5 and into the
party’s ideals, but he physically and mentally could not. At the end of the
book when the narrator says, “He loved Big Brother,” it is because Winston was
trained to love him. Winston’s mind was altered when he was in the Ministry of
Love. This ending was very eye opening for me because it shows that with the
right tools, a party or government can change a whole mode of thought. It seems
that this formula to keep power that the Party contrived worked. It was even
able to convert its opposition. Killing the opposition would not be enough
because there will always be more, but changing the opposition can be
successful. Orwell critiques that unless we change the way the world is going,
this is a possible future. The novel shows that we must not let this happen,
yet it will be hard to stop it from happening if a superior power has to
ability to change the way we think.